redroofcolleen's review against another edition
5.0
Bee Lavender writes about life, growing up in the outskirts of society in a place at once tender and violent, and her body being riddled by cancer after cancer, illness after illness, tragedy after tragedy, from the ripe age of twelve.
Her life is a steady succession of shocks, and though there is ample reason to feel pity for her, a teen mother, a body that will never be cancer-free, more surgeries and procedures than I can even fathom, it is certainly not her aim. Quite to the contrary, she is the type of woman who has taken her lot, for better or worse, and seen it as greater than the sum of its parts, far, far greater. She understands the repetition of life, the ceaseless cycles, and is ever more keenly aware of death and our proximity to it, at any given moment.
Yet, she's hardly been afraid to live or exert her power. She travels, dances, and drives the countryside. She is fun and funny. She cannot be contained. She speaks her mind. She shares wholeheartedly. Dazzling and terrifying and absolutely worth reading. In a single sitting-- I nearly forgot to mention that. I couldn't put it down.
Her life is a steady succession of shocks, and though there is ample reason to feel pity for her, a teen mother, a body that will never be cancer-free, more surgeries and procedures than I can even fathom, it is certainly not her aim. Quite to the contrary, she is the type of woman who has taken her lot, for better or worse, and seen it as greater than the sum of its parts, far, far greater. She understands the repetition of life, the ceaseless cycles, and is ever more keenly aware of death and our proximity to it, at any given moment.
Yet, she's hardly been afraid to live or exert her power. She travels, dances, and drives the countryside. She is fun and funny. She cannot be contained. She speaks her mind. She shares wholeheartedly. Dazzling and terrifying and absolutely worth reading. In a single sitting-- I nearly forgot to mention that. I couldn't put it down.
kickpleat's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, this is the memoir about getting cancer at 12 and becoming pregnant at 18 and surviving. Survival is key and somehow amidst all the craziness, Bee lives and lives. A great read.
mrsthrift's review against another edition
4.0
This is a memoir, based on a true story. I had to keep reminding myself because the piles of painful and difficult stuff that Bee Lavender survives in these pages is astounding. Bee Lavender is one of the central figures in the Hip Mama canon. This book mentions her kids, and tells stories of her pregnancies, but the central focus is her own stitched together survival.
Starting with a tough family, low class consciousness, and a cancer diagnosis starting at 12, Bee never gives the reader a breather - unlikely teen pregnancy, travel around the world, hopes, dreams, terrible accidents, graduate school, and more invasive medical treatments than anyone should endure. Eventually, Lavender finds some salvation in a radical choir, acupuncture and massage, and starts to give permission to the most repressed parts of herself - permission to sing, permission to ride a bike, permission to take care of herself. I appreciated Lavender's childhood memories from somewhere on a peninsula in WA, visiting mount rainier, talking about puget sound, bridges, forests, and escaping.
Starting with a tough family, low class consciousness, and a cancer diagnosis starting at 12, Bee never gives the reader a breather - unlikely teen pregnancy, travel around the world, hopes, dreams, terrible accidents, graduate school, and more invasive medical treatments than anyone should endure. Eventually, Lavender finds some salvation in a radical choir, acupuncture and massage, and starts to give permission to the most repressed parts of herself - permission to sing, permission to ride a bike, permission to take care of herself. I appreciated Lavender's childhood memories from somewhere on a peninsula in WA, visiting mount rainier, talking about puget sound, bridges, forests, and escaping.
interrobang's review against another edition
3.0
pretty good descriptions of nature and textures for a book i got out of a little free library
pyrrhicspondee's review
5.0
THIS BOOK IS VERY INTENSE. I read it in about a day, while proctoring AP exams. And it was wholly terrifying and beautifully written and I cannot recommend it enough.
izzorizzo's review
5.0
Beautiful and painful. It's amazing that someone can endure that much disease, pain, and life-changing events and still come out it functioning.
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